MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• Pak to block websites, SMS 'propagating anti-Islam agenda'.Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik today directed the authorities to block websites and SMS "propagating an anti-Islam agenda" within 24 hours.Malik ordered the Interior Secretary to trace all websites that are "propagating against Islam". Cases should be registered against persons who are involved in such acts and are residing in Pakistan, he said. The minister also asked the Secretary to constitute a committee comprising representatives of the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority and Federal Investigation Agency to tackle anti-Islam propaganda. The panel should submit its report in a week, he said.He also called on people to inform authorities about websites that are "propagating against Islam and Pakistan". In a separate development, Malik told reporters at Pirpai village in northwest Pakistan that the government has no intention of repealing or amending the blasphemy law.Hmmmm......These are the people the Obama administration supports?"We'll Meet Again".Read the full story here.HT"TROP.

• Tunisia: State of emergency declared amid protests.Police fire tear gas at the protesters outside the interior ministry.A state of emergency has been declared in Tunisia amid protests over corruption, unemployment and inflation.The decree bans more than three people from gathering together in the open, and imposes a night-time curfew.Security forces have been authorised to open fire on people not obeying their orders.State television is reporting that a "very important statement is expected to be announced to the Tunisian people very soon".Troops have surrounded the country's main international airport, Tunis Carthage, and the country's air space has been closed.Earlier, police fired tear gas as thousands gathered outside the interior ministry in the capital Tunis, urging President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to quit.The president has dismissed his government and dissolved parliament, saying new elections will be held within six months.On Thursday night, Mr Ben Ali, who has governed Tunisia since 1987, announced he would stand down in 2014 - but the protesters say he should go immediately.Read and see (Video) the full story here.

• Developping !Al Jazeera- Army 'takes over' Tunisia ! The Tunisian president is reported to have left the country and the army has taken control, reports say.Friday's developments come amid violent clashes in the capital, Tunis, over unemployment and rising food prices.State media earlier reported that Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the president, had imposed a state of emergency in the country and promised fresh legislative elections within six months in an attempt to quell the wave of dissent sweeping across the country.It was also said that gatherings of more than three people had been banned.Read the full story here.Updated :PM replaces Tunisia president !Tunisia's long-standing president has left the country amid violent protests and the prime minister has taken over control of the government from him.The Tunisian prime minister, in a televised address, said on Friday that he has assumed control of the government as the president is "temporarily unable to exercise his duties".Tunisian state television said on Friday it is expecting the announcement of an "historic decision" which will satisfy the desires of the north African country's people.But the pledges seemed to have little effect as fresh streets erupted on Friday.More on this developping story here.
  

• Iran's nuke tour without Turkey, major powers.A weekend tour of Iran's nuclear sites appears set to go ahead without Russia, China, the European Union or key allies Turkey and Brazil, blunting Tehran's attempts to gain support from major powers ahead of crucial talks on its atomic activities.On the eve of the visit, Iranian envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh said Friday that representatives of nonaligned nations, developing countries, the Arab League, Venezuela and Syria had accepted invitations to visit Iran's central Natanz enrichment facility and its still-unfinished heavy water reactor at Arak."This trip will offer the most transparency" regarding Iran's nuclear program, Soltanieh told The Associated Press, adding that the diplomats would be able to see "everything they wanted."Hmmmm....If it is as transparant as the Obama administration then please Lord protect us all.Read the full story here.

• HT:IsraelMatzav.Nasrallah: 'There won't be a civil war in Lebanon, because we'll kill anyone who gets in our way'.Hezbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah gave one of his lengthy, televised speeches on Thursday night, and promised that there would be no civil war in Lebanon.The Hezbollah leader said he was sure there would be no civil conflict between Shiites and Sunnis in Lebanon.But why would there be no civil conflict? Nasrallah blamed Hariri for the current political crisis.Hariri met with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on Wednesday and held talks in France and Turkey on Thursday.Nasrallah called on Hariri to stay abroad and not return to Lebanon.Hmmmm.....You stay there and all will be well?Read the full story here.

• HT:IsraelSeen.Countdown to a New Lebanon Crisis – Iran Sends a Signal to Obama through Beirut.On January 12, 2011, just as Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri was meeting with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office of the White House, the pro-Iranian Hizbullah forced a collapse of the Lebanese government. Ten of its ministers held a press conference announcing their decision in Beirut that was broadcast live on Lebanese television during the Obama-Hariri summit. by Shimon Shapira.There is a tendency in the West to underestimate the Iranian role in Hizbullah decision-making. But it should be remembered that Hizbullah was created in the offices of the Iranian ambassador to Syria, Ali Akbar Mohtashemi in 1982. Deputy Secretary-General of Hizbullah, Sheikh Naim Qassem, admitted in 2007 that Hizbullah does not pursue its own policy but rather submits to the authority of the Iranian leadership, which instructs it even on military-operative issues. This is based on the ideology of the Iranian Islamic regime, set forth by Ayatollah Khomeini, whose key principle is the rule of the jurisprudent (vilayat al-faqih), the title presently used by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.The U.S. and its Western allies, particularly France, have an opportunity to demonstrate their resolve to block Iranian expansionism in the Middle East by taking back the reins of what is transpiring in Lebanon today. They can also serve the interests of international justice by ensuring that the STL actually moves against the murderers of Hariri. But a failure to respond to this Iranian-sponsored provocation will only invite further adventurism on the part of the regime in Tehran elsewhere in the region as it seeks to further establish its hegemony in the Middle East. It will also reward Hizbullah, which remains one of the most dangerous international terrorist organizations targeting the West.Read the full story here.

• Former Judge to AZ Sheriff: ‘Shut Up Before You Do Any More Damage to the Prosecution’s Case’. Rep. Louis Gohmert (R.-Texas), a former prosecutor and judge and a current member of the House Judiciary Committee, is offering some advice to Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, who has gained national attention since Saturday for his suggestions that radio and television talk shows were somehow responsible for the shooting attack in Tucson that took the lives of 6 people and wounded 14 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.Says Rep. Gohmert to the sheriff: “Shut up before you do any more damage to the prosecution’s case.”Read the full story here.

• Pakistan Murdered Governor Taseer's daughter warned to back off. ISLAMABAD: The leader of an Islamic political party in Pakistan has warned the daughter of a murdered politician to ''remember her father's fate'' and to stop supporting his cause.Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab, was shot dead by Mumtaz Qadri, a police officer, on January 4 because of his campaign to pardon a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy.Many Muslims celebrated the murder and marched in support of Taseer's confessed killer.Advertisement: Story continues below Shadab Qadri, the leader of Sunni Tehreek, said the politician's daughter, Shehrbano Taseer, 21, must stop speaking out against blasphemy laws.''We read the statement of the slain governor's daughter in a newspaper. She should refrain from issuing such statements and must remember her father's fate,'' Shadab Qadri said.His organisation has also offered legal support to Mumtaz Qadri and financial help to his family ''as he performed a great duty in the name of Islam''.On Wednesday, Ms Taseer told the BBC Today program: ''My father's stance has been misrepresented and has been misquoted because he simply said these laws are being misused and they target the poor, the dispossessed and the voiceless.''He said it's a man-made law and these things should be debated in parliament. That has been misconstrued into saying that he has been blasphemous.''Hmmmm....These are the people the Obama administration is giving Tens of Billions of Dollars?"Together we thrive"?Thrive on what?Read the full story here.

• "The War on Christianity".Wearing Rosary Beads to School Got Me Suspended, Texas Girl Says.A Texas girl is calling for an apology from her middle school after she says she was suspended for wearing rosary beads around her neck, khou.com reports.Jonae Devlin, 14, reportedly told the station that she wore the prayer beads at Hodges Bend Middle School in Houston because they remind her of her late grandmother, a devout Catholic."I wear them for my grandmother," she told the station. "It makes me feel like she's with me all the time."The school's principal ordered that the girl be suspended for one day, arguing that the beads violate the school dress code, khou.com reported."She said, 'I’m going to give you the choice to take it off or be suspended,' and I said, 'You might as well suspend me,'" Devlin told the station.Read the full story here.More on this story here .

• Barack Obama's 2012 cash challenge.Bracing for a half-billion-dollar onslaught of outside GOP cash in 2012, President Barack Obama’s advisers are quietly working to bring back together the major donor base that produced a record-breaking fundraising haul in his first run for president. In the past few months, Democratic National Committee aides have contacted several of Obama’s earliest financial backers to brainstorm about when and where to host the first money-raising events. Several big donors said they expect the Obama 2012 operation to open its doors this spring, with a string of fundraisers to generate the early cash needed to rebuild the president’s high-tech campaign operation.But already some of Obama’s top financial backers are warning the White House: Raising money won’t be as easy this time around. “They are getting organized in Chicago to start a massive two-year campaign, which I believe will be successful, but has extraordinarily large challenges in some of the major states,” said Philadelphia philanthropist Peter Buttenweiser, who hosted one of the first Obama presidential fundraisers in 2007 and is in talks to organize an early one for the re-election. Obama’s team is running into resistance in at least one key fundraising hub — New York City, where some of Obama’s biggest 2008 backers have bitterly protested last year’s passage of financial reform legislation and what they perceived as an unfair bad-mouthing of bankers during the debate.In other places, such as Pennyslvania, top donors say Obama has to get in line behind other candidates who need the cash more urgently. And some donors are worried that the party has been slow off the mark in responding to the latest onslaught of GOP fundraising, millions of dollars raised from secret donors by a variety of Republican outside groups, including two associated with former Bush advisers Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie.Hmmmm.....Chicago.....Shorebank.....Cap and Trade...Chicago Climate Exchange.......Follow the money.Read the full story here.

• HT:NewZeal.Video : Traveling Down the Road to Serfdom: History of Socialism from Marx to Obama.Read and see the full story here.

• The 11 Most Ludicrous Free Passes Given to The Obamas.One of the most infuriating events in the last few years for conservatives is surprisingly not the election of Barack Obama. What burns conservatives most of all is the refusal of the journalistic community to do its job where Obama is involved. Historically, the American press tends to be hard on a sitting president and the American people expect it. This keeps everybody honest. Never have we witnessed the media so willing to forgo its purpose for the advancement of one man. It seems odd that in an age of “vetting” candidates (which seems to be the number one priority for the press, unless the candidate in question is Obama) that we know so little about the man who sits at the Resolute desk. What we do know about him–his lethargic response time, the reneging on campaign promises, his excessive and multitudinous vacations, his robotic reliance on a teleprompter–is largely ignored or excused by the media, earning them a well-deserved nickname in conservative circles as the “State-Run Media.”The press has long viewed itself as the fourth branch of government, ever vigilant and on high alert for any funny business. But what happens when the Fourth Estate goes rogue, throwing all precedence to the wind in pursuit of their dream candidate? One unintended consequence has been the dethroning of the major networks as a legitimate and unbiased source of news. Who takes them seriously anymore? Their credibility has taken a major hit. Any ten minute viewing of the nightly national news will be chock full of anti-Republican slurs and lots of Obama stroking.This kind of blatant display of bias has been going on for many years which lead to the conservative majority on the radio waves and Fox News in answer to cable, network and major newspapers. But only now is the bias so glaring, so transparent, it can be said they’ve truly gone off the reservation.The following are the most glaring examples of the major passes given to the Obamas and his administration that have been extended to any sitting president in history.1. Promise anything, deliver nothing…Read the full story here.

• HT:IslamInEurope.Kosovo: Temporary marriages a key to entering EU.Each time she goes to sleep, Valbona (35), from Peja, western Kosovo, looks at her wedding photograph taken 13 years ago. Beside her, she sees her smiling husband.Today, that moment is just a memory. Two years ago, her husband remarried a German woman. Not only did Valbona, mother of their four children aged four to 11, know of his plan, she approved it.This is because Valbona is not really divorced in the eyes of her family or the wider community.Many Kosovar Albanian men divorce their first wives by mutual consent, departing for western Europe where they find new spouses who enable them to obtain residency papers.They leave their children behind in Kosovo so that they can pose as single men and remarry fast. Once they have permanent residency in Germany, or other EU states, they divorce their second wives, go back to their first ones and bring the family to the West.In the past, Albanian families did not accept divorce so easily. But the taboo has been forgotten now that Kosovar Albanians have discovered the usefulness of divorcing and remarrying foreigners in order to gain papers to live in western Europe.Not all foreign wives are equally acceptable, of course.A second marriage to a non-Albanian is seen as worthless unless the new wife has citizenship of the European Union. But if men divorce their Kosovar wives for that reason, society turns a blind eye.Valdrin Hoxha, an unemployed 23-year-old from Pristina, said he would do the same thing if he could."I would explain to my family that after getting the (EU) documents I would divorce my foreign wife and marry a Kosovar girl," he says, confidently.Hmmmm........Read the full "story" here.

• HT:IslamInEurope.Belgium: Shariah4Belgium celebrating Vlaams Belang politician's terminal illness.The radical Islamist organization, Shariah4Belgium, is celebrating the terminal illness of former Vlaams-Belang politician, Marie-Rose Morel.Morel, who is fighting cancer, is currently in the terminal stage of her disease, and is too weak to receive further treatment."Alhamdulillah, all praise to Allah the Master of the World, who makes Marie Rose Morel suffer to death and will then, inshallah, punish her severely in Hellfire! Allah the Almighty has, because of her campaign against Islam and Muslims, forced her to wear a headscarf [ed: she lost her hair due to treatments], though she's vehemently aganist it!"Vlaams Belang senator, Jurgen Ceder,wants to know when the Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism will act against this form of incitement to hatred. He points out that political difference can be fought out in different way in Belgium, but not by wishing people to die. With such statement "extreme Islam once again shows its backwardness and fanaticism."Earlier former colleague Bart Debie announced on his Facebook to "put the champagne on ice", which cost him his place in Vlaams Belang.Hmmmmm......"Religion Of Peace".Read and see the full story here.

• Now 300 dead birds fall from the sky in Alabama (how much longer can scientists keep saying this is normal?).Up to 300 dead birds have been found on the side of an Alabama highway in the latest mass animal death to be reported.The bodies of the birds, identified as grackles, were found strewn along the I-65 highway. Grackles have also been found dead in their hundreds recently in Arkansas, Louisiana and Kentucky.Since the 1970s, the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center in Wisconsin has tracked mass deaths among birds, fish and other critters, said wildlife disease specialist LeAnn White. At times the sky and the streams just turn deadly. Sometimes it's disease, sometimes pollution. Other times it's just a mystery.In the past eight months, the USGS has logged 95 mass wildlife die-offs in North America and that's probably a dramatic undercount, Dr White said.So what's happening this time?Blame technology, says famed Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson. With the Internet, cell phones and worldwide communications, people are noticing events, connecting the dots more.'This instant and global communication, it's just a human instinct to read mystery and portents of dangers and wondrous things in events that are unusual,' Wilson told The Associated Press on Thursday. 'Not to worry, these are not portents that the world is about to come to an end.'Read the full story here.

• Related - Earth's magnetic pole shift unleashing poisonous space clouds linked to mysterious bird deaths.Following the unexplained deaths of several thousand birds over the last two weeks, events are now emerging that may offer a physics-based explanation for the mysterious deaths. It all begins on a runway in Tampa, where airport officials recently closed that runway in order to change the numeric designators painted there. Why are those numeric designators being changed? Because the Earth's magnetic poles are shifting and the numbers previously painted on the runway no longer match up with the magnetic measurements of sensitive airplane instruments. Last week, a report from the Russia's Ministry for Extraordinary Situations (MCHS) warned that the weakening Earth magnetosphere was allowing "poisonous space clouds" to enter deep into Earth's atmosphere where it is coming into contact with birds.These "space clouds" are called Noctilucent clouds, which exist at very high altitudes (roughly 50 miles) and accumulate space dust from micrometeors and other sources.What's really interesting here is that these noctilucent clouds exhibit very high radar reflectivity This means these clouds create a very large radar signature on weather tracking systems.Now here's where this story gets really interesting: On New Year's Even when birds began falling out of the sky in Arkansas, the National Weather Service in North Little Rock documented an unusual phenomenon on their radar monitors. "There are some indications that we're picking up a non-precipitation target," said Science and Operations Officer Chris Buonanno at the NWS. He went on to explain that the radar signature definitely was not indicative of a cloud or rainstorm. It was something altogether different.At or around the same time this radar image appeared, birds began falling out of the sky.Hmmmm......Now read the rest of the story here.

• 1,800 British tourists to be evacuated from Tunisia by Thomas Cook after 23 die in violent street riots.Travel company Thomas Cook has vowed to fly home all 1,800 of its British customers who are holidaying in Tunisia, following violent riots which have claimed 23 lives so far this week.In addition the company has cancelled the next scheduled departures to the north African country, which were due to take off on Sunday.Thomas Cook said in a statement that they are 'strongly advising' those Brits on holiday in Tunisia to board the return flights, which will take off today.The statement read: 'Although there have been no specific problems for our holidaymakers, their well-being is our primary concern so, as a precaution, we've taken the decision to bring them back to the UK as soon as we can, using our fleet of aircraft today.'The riots, which have been rumbling all month, have been caused by high unemployment rates and general disenchantment with a government they view as corrupt.Yesterday the Foreign and Commonwealth Office - along with the US and French alternative - altered its guidance, advising against all but essential travel to Tunisia due to the 'unpredictable' climate.The president of Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, last night vowed to step down in a bid to stop the riots.President Ben Ali, who came to power in a bloodless coup in 1987, said he will leave the presidency when his term ends in 2014, he ordered prices on food to be slashed and made pledges for political and media freedom.Hundreds of people took to the street of the capital Tunis today to march after Mr Ben Ali read out the list of promises and concessions.Calling for a 'cease-fire', Mr Ben Ali, 74, told his nation in a televised speech: 'I have understood you.'I have understood the demands about unemployment, the demands about necessities, and the political demands for more freedoms.'He added that he had issued orders to the interior minister that no more bullets be fired on protesters, unless security forces are under threat. 'I won't accept that another drop of blood of a Tunisian be spilled,' he said.'There will be from now on a total freedom of the press and a removal of Internet restrictions,' he said, adding that 'many things have not worked as I wanted them to' in terms of democracy and freedoms.YouTube and other websites blocked previously were again accessible after his speech.Online media and social networks have helped spread the outrage since a desperate young graduate tried to set himself on fire in a provincial town last month.Read the full story here.

• Immigration is too high, say four in five Britons.Four out of five people want to see cuts in the level of immigration, a large-scale survey carried out for the Government has revealed.More than half the population want to see numbers coming from abroad to live in Britain reduced by ‘a lot’, it found.The poll, carried out for the Communities Department, showed that public demand for reducing immigration is overwhelming and growing.It amounts to a warning from Whitehall to David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May that concerns over immigration – which played a central role in last year’s general election – have not gone away and are likely to lead to voter frustration if the Coalition fails to keep its promises.Ministers have pledged to bring net migration – the number of people added to the population by migration each year – down to 1990s levels of under 100,000. In Labour’s last year in power, net migration was 215,000.Read the full story here.

• Hezbollah issues ultimatum to Hariri. As Lebanese caretaker prime minister meets with Turkey's Erdogan, opposition says will let him lead government until 2013 if he puts an end to 'libel being concocted' by international tribunal probing his father's murder.Following the dramatic resignation of Hezbollah ministers and their allies from Lebanon's government, the Lebanese opposition on Friday issued an ultimatum to caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri.Beirut-based newspaper al-Akhbar quoted a senior opposition official as saying that Hariri would be able to stay in office if he gave in to Hezbollah's demand and stop cooperating with the United Nations tribunal probing the murder of his father, former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The international committee, which is expected to submit its conclusions in the near future, is likely to point a finger at the Hezbollah organization and file indictments against its members.Having met with President Barack Obama in Washington and stopped in France en route to Turkey, the Lebanese leader was expected to discuss steps to solve the government crisis with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. Turkish leaders were expected to propose holding an international conference to address the crisis and advise Hariri to try to seek a consensus with Hezbollah, private NTV television said Friday.Turkey, which has built closer ties with Lebanon since participating in the Lebanon peacekeeping force after the 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war in southern Lebanon, believes it could play a role in returning stability to the region.Hmmmm.....Not forgetting to mention the close ties Erdogan has to Iran -Hezbollah?Read the full story here.

• Turkey’s rapid radicalization should concern Americans.Turkey’s transformation since the AKP party came to power in 2002 is a textbook example of how a democratically elected Islamist party can convert a formerly friendly nation into an antagonist in a few short years.That’s the opinion of Soner Cagaptay, who spoke Tuesday at The Society of the Four Arts. The Turkish-born Cagaptay is the director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank established in 1985 by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. He’s also a regular commentator on Mideast affairs in print and on television and an adviser to the U.S. State Department.When the AKP took over, many people assumed Turkey’s democratic tradition would moderate the party’s views, Cagaptay said. Instead, the opposite happened. “Recent polls show that Turks consider the United States to be the greatest threat to Turkey,” he said.The AKP muzzled dissent by clamping down on the media and radicalized the Turkish public by exposing it to anti-American rhetoric, which allowed it to pursue Islamist policies inimical to American interests, he said.Among the recent examples Cagapty noted to support his case: Turkey’s opposition to United Nations Security Council sanctions of Iran’s nuclear program and its joint air force exercises with China.For the Islamists, “respect is a one-way street,” he said. “You have to respect them, but they don’t have to respect you.”The AKP’s reception of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has been charged with genocide by an international court in The Hague, is another illustration of the party’s skewed world view, the speaker said. Approximately 300,000 Muslims have died in the war in Darfur.When asked whether it was honorable to invite an accused mass-murderer to Turkey, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan replied, “He’s a Muslim. Muslims don’t commit genocide.”“He’s saying that if you share my ideology, you can do no wrong, but if you don’t, I can do all kinds of wrong to you,” Cagaptay said.Hmmmm....“He’s a Muslim. Muslims don’t commit genocide.”Erdogan denies the Armenian genocide ,next he WILL deny the Jewish Holocaust!Get Turkey out of NATO NOW!Read the full story here.

• Iran's Role in Collapse of Lebanese Government May Serve as Warning for Iraqis.Even as observers blame Iranian influence for the collapse of Lebanon’s coalition government Wednesday, the mullahs in Tehran seem to be extending their reach into the fledgling government in Iraq.When Moqtada Al Sadr landed in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf last week after three years of self-imposed exile, he was greeted with adulation and cheers by his followers. His anti-American rhetoric remained apparent at his first public rally this weekend.Fox News has now learned that some members of the U.S. military worked for more than a year to get Sadr back from Iran.“Although his rhetoric is disruptive, it is better he is in Iraq than Iran,” a senior military commander told FOX News. “From Iran he is controlled and used by Iran.”Hezbollah used its political clout to bring down the government of Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri today as he met with President Obama at the White House. The move is likely tied to the expected release of a U.N. report linking Hezbollah leaders, and in turn its Iranian and Syrian benefactors, to the assassination of Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, father of the current prime minister.“My prediction is that there will be some U.S. force level remaining in Iraq under some auspices,” Crocker told FOX News. “That is my prediction.”That may not be good enough for Sadr, who along with his Iranian benefactors, wants all U.S. troops to leave on time. Iran’s rising role and influence in Iraq was seen this week as the Iranian foreign minister visited Maliki in Baghdad.But there is some disagreement about just how much influence Iran will have over the fledgling Maliki government.Hmmmm....And how much influence has Erdogan (Turkey) in all this?If it depends on Iran and Turkey there will be no US troops in Iraq !Read the full story here.

• Turkish "Frankenstein" doctor released in Kosovo organ trafficking probe.A court has released a Turkish doctor suspected of carrying out dozens of operations as part of an alleged international organ trafficking network in Kosovo. The release of Yusuf Sönmez on Wednesday comes a day after his detention in İstanbul on an arrest warrant issued by Kosovo.Turkish news agencies reported that Sönmez was freed pending trial.Serbian authorities reacted harshly to the release of Sönmez. Serbian Minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanovic yesterday told reporters that Sönmez’s release may hurt the fight against illegal human smugglers in Kosovo, the Anatolia news agency reported. Arguing that the court ruling may negatively affect an organ trafficking investigation carried out by the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX Kosovo), Bogdanovic said the decision may pave the way for criminals to be acquitted.Sönmez is among at least nine people who were indicted in the case. A warrant issued by the district court in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, charged him with people smuggling and illegal immigration.Turkey does not extradite its citizens abroad but relays their testimony to other countries when deemed necessary. If convicted, they serve their term in Turkey.Hmmmm....Now just try to imagine if he would have been Jewish?The whole Muslim world would have exploded!Keep Turkey out of the EU!Read the full scandal story here.

• Giving a whole new meaning to 'detention': Now unruly pupils as young as six are being ticketed by police in Texas.It used to be that the worst punishment when you misbehaved at school was a dreaded visit to the principal’s office.But now children as young as six are being ticketed by police and having to answer for their disruptive actions in court.Even elementary school children in Texas are being given misdemeanor tickets instead of detention for bad behaviour in class.The most common infractions earning tickets are cursing, disorderly conduct and leaving school early.Parents in North Texas are protesting about the court punishments that can cost a family up to $500.One six-year-old in Dallas received class C tickets for things like disrupting class and punch-ups in the playground.According to new data released by Texas education authorities, more than 1,200 elementary school students were given tickets over the past five years in Dallas alone.Alief school district issued 355, while Wichita Falls, Austin and Humble gave out less than 100 each.The shocking statistic led to protests from angry parents.‘It’s the school district’s job to help us as parents to help them determine what’s right or wrong,’ said mother Abby Amadore. ‘I don’t think it’s correct to give them a ticket at six years old,’ she added.The findings were revealed by school watchdogs Texas Appleseed after it collected five years worth of data from 22 districts across the state.In just one year, between 2006 and 2007, over 4,000 Dallas students of all ages were given tickets.'We certainly agree that students need to be disciplined for bad behaviour,' said Deborah Fowler, Deputy Director of Texas Appleseed.'We question if they should come in direct contact with the municipal or JP court system.'Hmmmm.....Anyone doing the Math on how much money it brings in to the empty state pockets?Read the full story here.

• Lebanon: Grenades hurled at Christian party's office. Lebanese PM Hariri meets France's Sarkozy to discuss his government's collapse following resignation of Hezbollah ministers. Meanwhile, two grenades thrown at office of Christian party considered ally of Shiite group; no injuries. A day after Hezbollah shook the Lebanese political system, talks aimed at easing tensions in the country are continuing. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah promised that the resignation of the Shiite party's ministers from the government would not lead to a civil war, but a short while later two grenades were hurled at the headquarters of Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement north of Beirut.Aoun is considered an ally of Hezbollah. Hariri met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris Thursday, but the two leaders did not speak to the press. The Lebanese PM is expected to continue to Turkey for a meeting with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, and then travel to Syria before returning to Beirut.Also Thursday, Nasrallah met with Druze leader in Lebanon Walid Jumblatt to discuss the political developments in the country since the resignation of the opposition's ministers from the government.Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said talks on forming a new government will begin next week.Nasrallah rejected the possibility of a civil war, saying, "There will never be a war between the Sunnis and Shiites. We will calculate our steps." Al-Jazeera reported that in a closed meeting with Hezbollah leaders, Nasrallah said he considers the filing of indictments in the Hariri assassination case a deliberate attack on the Shiite group.Read the full story here.

• And now for something completely different.Disabled man banned from using off-road 'tank wheelchair' by DVLA (with video).A disabled man's incredible tank-style wheelchair that lets him go on off-road adventures has been sidelined by officials because it is too big to use in public.Jim Starr, 36, was hoping to use the hulking chair, which has caterpillar treads instead of wheels, to enjoy days out at the beach and the countryside with his children.The Tank Chair is designed to move easily across multi-terrain and Jim, 36, has already driven it through snow, across sand and into the surf of his local beach.But his hopes have been stopped in their tracks by the DVLA who say the Tank Chair cannot be categorised as an invalid buggy as it is 22cm(8.6in) too wide and more than 100kg(15.7st) too heavy for use on public land.They have told Jim that he must apply for a category H driving licence which allows people to drive track-laying vehicles such as tanks, on public roads.Hmmmm......A track to far?Read and see the full story here.